Life is science fiction,

she said.

It stands reason on its head,

and drowns the memories

of yesterdays.

Look up, she said.

See what stars you can

in the daylight sky.

She is this close

to sanity.

I’ve lived here before, she said.

I’ve walked these steps,

in these shoes,

on these days,

and have yet to step off.

I keep returning, she said.

I keep forgetting the message,

what it said, and where I left it.

I experience, she said,

all the joys anew.

This close to sanity…

All the sorrows afresh.

I’ve forgotten where I left my map,

she said.

Four hundred times,

repeating the same moments,

walking the same shoes

into raggedy bits,

leaving my heart gently folded

into origami birds,

spread out one after another,

on the ocean’s waves.

She is holding my eyes,

and she really is,

this close…